Little Mermaid

Field Trip

High schools put on some wonderful plays. And our homeschooling community is great about organizing opportunities for the kids. Today, we went to a local high school to watch The Little Mermaid. Plus, we get to see a bunch of our homeschooling friends (and moms).

She is loving me... it is a field trip school day!

Rainbow Hair

I had delayed it for a year, but Callie was insistent. She wanted to try some fun hair colors, and I finally found a product to use that wasn't permanent. I wanted to make sure it would wash out in case she hated it. Plus, I opted to place it under a layer of hair, just in case.

There are actually three shades from blue to jade, as well as a pink, but it is hard to tell with her brown hair. The color is light and not overly noticeable when her hair is down. The brightness of the color is more prominent with blonde hair. However, she is still excited about her new colors!

My little rock garden

I worked all weekend... and created a rock garden beside the pool.

It was hard work. It was exhausting. It was possibly done with me fussing at people to help...

However, it looks great and should be easier to maintain!

Volunteerism in action...

There are things in our lives that remind us how amazing our kids are... and for me it is when Jackson mentors at TOPSoccer.

TOPSoccer is a soccer program for young athletes with disabilities and Jackson is often asked to volunteer because he can work with some of the more severely disabled children. He has a patience and ability to relate to children with special needs... it is a pretty amazing gift!

When I watch him mentor, it's like a parenting win... I feel like I must have done something right!

NSHSS

Congratulations to my son...

now a member of the National Society of High School Scholars!

I am super proud!

Ivy Green

Field Trip

Tucked not to far away from us, in Tuscumbia, Alabama, is Ivy Green, the home of Helen Keller. We decided to take a day trip to learn more about Helen Keller. Jackson had just finished Helen Keller's biography and Callie had been studying her life. It was a great time drive a few hours and see her birthplace.

Ivy Green is small, and the home/museum is decorated with much of the original furniture of the Keller family. It has a number of Helen Keller's personal mementos. Plus, the tour guide was so knowledgeable... it was a wonderful tour and very insightful.

Right behind the home is the famous well, where Helen understood her first word. We got to actually go up and touch the well.

We were taken back thinking about a totally blind and deaf Helen Keller having water and signed words repeated in her hands by Anne Sullivan. The actions were repeated over and over trying to help teach her to understand. Then she understood and knew "w-a-t-e-r" meant the cool something flowing over her hand. Pretty neat to be standing in that same spot...

The tour guide told us more and more about Helen and how she was a fast learner and desired to continue learning (and more quickly than one would imagine). Not only that, we got to hear about her mischievous side... locking her mom in a closet in the home and some of the trouble she got into in her youth.

It does not take long to visit Ivy Green, but it was well worth the trip. The small house and quarters were a good look into how some people lived in the late 1800s in Alabama.

Learn more about Ivy Green

I'm a sucker...

The kids wore me down... after a lot of dog talk on vacation... after a lot of begging... I have lost my mind and got a second dog. I have seriously lost my mind!

Welcome to the family, Pepper. 

The kids are ecstatic... they are crazy in love. She better be prepare to accept a whole lot of love. Originally "Arizona", but after the kids bounced names off each other for hours and hours, they both agreed on "Pepper". She is a "saved" dog, and we learned had been abused.